During the winter months, work life can become busier and more stressful for employees. It is essentially down to the employer to make sure that their employees can manage with the extra workload without overburdening them. We have collated a few steps employers can take to help with employee workload:
Prioritise the work
If your employees have too much work, then help them implement a priority system, let them know which items of work are more important then others. This way of working can cause less stress and increase efficiency, as they will be aware of what items of work need to be completed first, they can then organise their day accordingly.
Electronic Planning
Planning software is becoming very popular with many companies, the idea of being able to plan your daily workload and see your colleague’s workload can increase the effectiveness of the whole team. The team would be able to engage with each other through the application, let each other know which work needs to be completed so they could step in if needs be. It doesn’t need to be complicated, it can start with free tools already available to you, such as a shared calendar.
Communication
One of the main issues when it comes to stress is communication, employers need to set the precedent that their team members need to communicate – especially if it is to say they are getting behind on their own work and they need help. If employees take this stance on their work life then employers can step in and provide help where needed, by either delegating work away from the employee showing signs of stress, or even stepping in to help themselves.
Be reasonable
When you and your team have deadlines to meet, do not set them up to fail straight away, as their manager you have control over the workload you place on your team. Think about each member of the team individually, assess their abilities and assign work according to how strong their abilities are. This way you will have a team who can complete the work set and on time too.
Keep the door open
To keep your people happy, they need to know there is a safe place for them to go if they have any issues, so you should make sure that your door is always open for them if they need to speak to you. Employees like to know that their employer listens to them, especially when it comes to work. This can also increase the employer/employee relationship dramatically, employers will feel like they can share open and honestly with their employers.
Distribute difficult tasks
As the workload increases, so does some of the more difficult tasks. The best way to get these sorts of jobs done is to delegate them out between your team instead of leaving them down to just one person. It lightens the pressure on the one person and gives other people opportunities to prove themselves in the workplace.
